And for my next trick.....

Witherington Farm Teams 0f 4- 7/3/09

Saturday saw me heading to Witherington Farm to fish the teams of 4 match. I already knew I would be fishing on Cottage lake and couldn't wait! I have only fished Cottage once before but had a lovely day catching 33lb odd from peg 2- all small carp,skimmers and goldfish on pole and pellet. I learned a lot last time so was itching to get back on there as I felt I could do better. I arrived at the fishery at around 7.45 and as always had a quick walk around the lakes. There were a lot of fish blowing in front of Cottage peg 10 which was where team-mate Nick White won from 2 weeks before with 83lb caught at 10m. I headed to the cafe to pay my pools and have a chat with the lads before the draw. Nicky went into the bag for us with the words 'Cottage 10 will do me thanks Nick' ringing in his ears. 'Well I got you close Gareth' came his reply, 'You're on Cottage 9'. I was happy enough with that as I was in the right area and fancied it for a few fish. I got to the peg and began setting up.














A few minutes later top angler Gary Etheridge arrived on peg 10. I had drawn next to Gary the last time I fished Cottage and he put in an awesome display to blitz the match with 60lb odd from Peg 3 on the opposite side. He was the last person I wanted to see arrive on dolly peg 10 as he would be very hard to beat from there! Gary's a really nice guy and never holds anything back so atleast I could have a chat throughout the match and hopefully learn a thing or two. One thing I have learned in the limited time I've been fishing at Withy is simplicity is often best. Every time I had fished there I had set the waggler up as I love fishing it even though sometimes I knew I would have been far better off just fishing a lead which isn't generally my favourite method. With that in mind I decided to set up one pole line at 10m in around 4ft of water, an edge rig to my left and a lead rod for fishing to the island. My main line was a 4x12 KC Chimp on 0.14-0.12 and an 18 B911. This was matched to a doubled 5 latex. I also set up a similar rig for the same line on 0.16-0.14 16 B911 and a doubled 6 latex in case the bigger fish showed. My edge rig conisisted of a 4x10 Scone AM Wellard (simply awesome,the perfect margin float) on 0.16-16 B911 and a doubled 8 latex. Finally I set up an 11ft Shimano Beastmaster tip rod matched to a Daiwa TDR reel, 8lb Matchwinner and a 12 inch 0.18 hooklength to an 18 PR36. I planned on fishing small PVA bags of pellet on this line. For bait I had a couple of pints of soaked micro pellets,some 4mm pellets,a tin of corn and a few hookers. The all-in was called and I cupped in around 30 micro pellets and 3 grains of corn at 10m before attaching a tiny PVA bag to the rod and cast around a metre off the island. After 5 minutes I had a small drop back and wound in to nothing. I changed the double corn for a single corn hookbait with a slightly shorter hair and cast out to the same spot. After 5 minutes I had another drop back but this time wound in to solid resistance and 5 minutes later netted a mirror carp of about 6lb. No more bites came in the next 15 minutes so it was onto the pole line at 10m on the light rig with a 4.5mm expander. I started to catch a few small skimmers but was missing a few bites. I double bulked the rig by moving 3 no:10's 6 inches from the hook and first drop saw the float disappear and a lift was met with solid resistance. A minute or two later I slipped the net under a carp of around 3lb. I continued to cad-pot a pinch of micro's and 3 grains of corn in after every fish but although I was catching regularly they were mainly small skimmers. Gary to my right was now sacking on waggler and pellet to the island and I knew I had to try an slow him down so began to ping 6mm pellets across to try and draw some of his fish away. It seemed to work so I cupped in a small amount of bait on the pole line and went on the lead with a 6mm pellet. A minute later the tip wanged around and I had a chub of around 10oz. On with a new pellet and a small PVA of micro's I decided to drop around 5m short of the island. After 10 minutes the tip slammed round and it was clear I had hooked a decent fish as it kited to my right. I thought to myself 'this doesn't feel right' and couldn't work out why. What happened next was one of those million-to-one events. The fish seemed to be fighting hard and when I got it towards me it became clear why. It had a big clump of weed and muck on it's nose,and coming off this clump was a piece of line that also had an 8lb carp attached to it. This made things extremely awkward as I was effectively playing two fish that were swimming in opposite directions. Eventually I netted my fish but somehow the 'other' fish was still attached. I lifted the rod expecting everything to go slack but the fish was still attached and as it just wallowed there I slipped the net under it. A quick check with those around and apparantly it was OK to put in the keepnet so I wasn't going to argue!After all,it's not like it was done intentionally and it was a nightmare trying to land my fish. I almost felt like saying 'and for my next trick'. This put me right back in contention as I felt I was now 2nd on the lake behind Gary who was still catching well on the waggler,mainly goldfish,skimmers and the odd carp. I probably had around 35lb at this stage with 2 hours to go. At this point I fed a bit of corn and pellet down the edge and went back on the pole at 10m. I was catching well but the fish were quite small- skimmers and tench mainly. Back on the tip with a single grain of corn and a PVA bag to the island saw a wrap around after 15 minutes which led to another carp- this time around 7lb. 'Oh no,I've only got one on this time,never mind' I commented to Gary with a big grin on my face. No more bites were forthcoming so it was back on the pole where I continued to catch small skimmers regularly. With an hour to go I put a bit more bait down the inside and went back on the tip. Again it took around 15 minutes for a bite on a single grain of corn that led to a nice mirror carp of around 5lb. No more bite's so it was down the edge for the last 30 minutes where I managed 2 tench and a skimmer on corn before the all-out was called. I was surprised I didn't get any carp down the edge as it looked perfect but it wasn't to be. I was pretty sure Gary had beat me as he had caught well throughout,taking fish on both the pole and waggler. The scales made their way around the lake and when they reached me 39lb was winning. My silvers net went 17.8 and my carp net went 36.12. I was surprised as I didn't think I had that much. My lead was short lived as Gary plonked 65lb dead on the scales. I followed them round the rest of the lake and it finally emerged I had come 2nd, with 39lb coming third. As it happened that 'bonus' fish hadn't made any difference, but I couldn't help but think that if I had won by a couple of pound it would have felt like a hollow victory. I packed up and headed back to the cafe where it emerged that not only had I come 2nd in my section but also 2nd overall which was a nice bonus. I finally feel like I'm starting to get to grips with the place and it's nice when this is reflected in your results.

Deja Vu at Whinwhistle

If you read my blog from the last round at Whinwhistle you'll know I drew the dreaded Rail lake on peg 14- the worst peg on there. Arriving this morning for breakfast I found out I was lying in second place overall in the league and hopefull of a good draw to push on. Chatting over breakfast it emerged that at 5pm on the Saturday the only peg on the whole complex still frozen was 14 on The Rail. Into the drawbag I went and out came......................Rail 14. I looked at the coin in disbelief as I couldn't believe I had drawn it again. Last time out I had 6 fish for 2oz and 2nd in section which shows how bad it is. I can honestly say I have never ever been so disapointed with a draw,I seriously contemplated going home but as it would result in 10 points I had to try and catch a fish to get some potentially crucial points. As it was milder than last time I expected the other pegs on the Rail to stand more chance of catching,particularly down the other end where league leader Richard Allin had drawn the Rail for the first time- end peg 2. I set up a few very light rigs and a lead rod but to be honest once again I wasn't even expecting a bite. I fed a nugget of groundbait at 14.5m in front and 16m to my left,with a nugget going on top of the shelf at 5m to my left where there were a few straggly branches. I was hoping to catch a few micro perch here as there was a bit of colour in the water following the weeks rain and was a bit of a throaway line. After 45 minutes I hadn't had a bite off either long line so dropped in down the edge with a single white pinkie on 0.8 bottom and a 24 Black Gama. After 5 minutes the float disapeared and I struck into a snag. But then the snag started to move away from the edge and a ghost carp of around 3.5lb wallowed on the surface before plodding into the channel. I played this fish like my life depended on it as I knew it would be worth mega section points. After around 3 or 4 minutes the tiny hook pulled out and the rig pinged back. I didn't swear much honest!!!! Why is it always in the really hard matches that you lose decent fish?!
Over the next four hours I went through the motions and managed 4 fish for exactly the same weight as last week- 2oz! This was only good enough for fourth in section this time as Richard on the end had 4 little carp. I packed up in double quick time and didn't even go to see how the other lake's had fished- that's how fed up I was! All in all a crap day on a crap peg that has probably ruled out any chance I had of winning the league as Richard is now 5 points ahead with only 2 matches to go.

Witherington Farm pairs- 14/2/09

With nothing on this Saturday I was happy to fill in for Nick Lund in the Pairs match at Witherington Farm . I turned up at around 7.45 in plenty of time for a wander around and I was a little suprised to find half of the lakes frozen, with Tony the owner turning the aerators on as I reached Sellwood. Only half of each lake was frozen and it was only around 1/2 an inch thick so nothing too serious. Into the cafe for a cup of tea and a quick chat to my parnter Colin Sellwood revealed he was happy for me to fish Cottage as I've never fished it and fancied a change. Into the buckets I went for the draw which placed Colin on Sellwood 12 and me on Cottage 2. Peg 2 is to the right of the aerator,but atleast I was on the side of the lake that was ice-free which would save some time. Apparantly peg 2 wasn't great with little form, but Colin filled me in and revealed that there was a plateau running between peg 2 and 3 and it was worth fishing at the base of this. I decided to fish a line at the base of the bar at 13m, with a waggler and lead line to the island which was around 20m away. I expected it to be very hard with the ice on the water so set up to fish quite light. My main line was around 3ft deep so I set up a 4x10 KC chimp on 0.14-0.12 and an 18B911. I initially set this to a 10 latex but changed to an 8 just before the all in- something that proved to be a good decision. I also set up my 11ft carbonactive- 3lb Maxima-0.12 and a 20 Drennan Eyed Barbless with a Mosella micro pellet band on a hair. The lead rig consisted of a 10ft Carbonacive- 6lb matchwinner with the same hooklength as the waggler. Both rods were set with Daiwa TDR 2503CU reels. I wasn't quite ready at the start but when I was finally ready 10 minutes late no-one had caught a fish so I wasn't worried. I started on the 13m line with a 4.5m coolwater pellet and cad-potted in just 4 micro pellets. After 5 minutes I had a positive bite and soon netted a brown gold-fish of around 8oz. 2 more in the next 2 drops was a good start,especially as no-one had caught a fish by this point. After a 10 minute quiet spell I potted in another 4 micro's and started to pick up a few fish- mostly goldfish of all colours with the odd skimmer thrown in. After about an hour I had 6lb in the net and bar the odd plip no-one had caught so I decided to get my head down and ignore the island for the time being-although I had been pinging the odd 4mm pellet across. I continued to pick off the odd fish but it was by no means frantic andnd I had to keep lifting and dropping for every fish. The guy to my right had started to pick off odd fish that were a good stamp but I could see I was still winning the lake after around 2 hours. The guy to my left then went down the edge to the aerator and had a lump- followed by 2 more in the next 10 minutes! This was where I made a mistake as this unsettled me and I decided to set up a new rig and fed a line at 13m down the edge to my left. This meant I was not fishing for 10 minutes and lost my rhythym a bit. A quick look on the waggler with 4mm pellet saw a nice skimmer and a tench before I hit a lump that suddenly went solid half way in as it snagged me and broke the hooklength! Back on the pole line and I was now catching regularly by lifting and dropping and feeding minimal amounts- not big fish but I was constantly adding weight to the net. The guy to my right (Gary-didnt catch his surname)had switched to 17.5m against the island and was sacking- after around 3 1/2 hours he over took me. I then had a spell where fish were coming off the hook,not foulhooked but not feeding confidently. I cad-potted in 6 4mm pellets after every fish which seemed to sort it as I got into a rhythym again and kept putting fish in the net. With around 2 hours to go something strange happened,all of a sudden there was elastic out everywhere as everyone seemed to hook decent fish. I decided to concentrate on putting whatever weight I could in the net as the odd look over the edge line hadn't produced anything. A quick look on the lead saw a wrap around that broke me- if I had known it would fish so well I would have fished a bit heavier. With 30 minutes left it was clear I needed a decent fish as everyone had 2 or 3 by now so I put a full cad pot of pellet in and went over the top with a 6mm pellet. As expected this slowed the bites but after 5 minutes the float disappeared and I soon panned a nice 3lb ghostie. I thought this would lead to a good spell but the next fish was foulhooked,that's the trouble with feeding a bit more. A skimmer netted on the whistle finished off a great day with loads of bites but I didn't know how I'd got on as everyone caught lumps late on. As I was on scales duty I was first to weigh and my 9lb odd of silvers and 22lb of little carp and goldfish went 31-3. Gary on my right then put 50lb odd on as his island line got stronger as the match went on and he sacked in the last 2 hours. The next guy weighed a low 20,then the guy who hadnt had a fish going into the last hour had 4 for 31-8, OUCH! Then there was a 30,a 32,21,34, and a few lower weights. The guy to my left had a few more lumps for 41lb and second on the lake. All in all it was a lovely day as the sun was shining and I had bites throughout. I was disapointed with my eventual 5th in section of 11 as another fish would have seen me 3rd,and I easily lost enough to get 2nd. But still,with half the lake frozen they were cracking weights.

Whinwhistle Winter Leage- round 6

Well after yesterday's win at Witherington Farm I was raring to go for today's winter league at Whinwhistle. I arrived at the fishery at just after 8 and after paying my pools started chatting to a few of the lads and one thing was clear- nobody wanted to draw the dreaded Rail Lake! To say the fishing has been hard on there of late is an understatement. Into the bag went my hand and out came.....Rail 14! I can honestly say I've never been more gutted with a draw. Not only had I drawn the worst lake I had also drawn one of the two worst pegs on there. It turned out there was a bit of a cock-up with the draw,as there was meant to be 5 on The Rail,6 on The Square and 6 on Keepers. Somehow extra pegs were added on The Rail and 7 of us ended up on there,with only 4 on The Square. As league leader Richard Allin had drawn there and had a whole bank to himself I feared the worst,especially as I had him in the semi final of the knock-out. Top angler Phil James got in his car and went home after drawing Rail 10 which speaks volumes for what it's been like of late. I got to my peg and tried to be upbeat but knew I was in for a real struggle and didn't really expect a bite to be honest.













Nonetheless I had to try and get good section points as I was lying in second place going into this round. To cut a long story short I caught 6 fish for 2oz (mainly small stuff!) for joint second in the section. One guy had 2 carp for 4lb,two of us had 2oz and everyone else blanked. Last year's league winner Andy Shanks drew Rail 2 and fished bloodworm and joker all day without a bite which gives you an idea of how tough it was. I was quite pleased to come away with 2 points as it keeps me near the top of the league but unfortunately Richard put me out of the knock-out with a section winning 2lb 3oz from The Square. All in all a tough day but atleast I didn't blank and come away with 9 points like some people did!

Witherington Farm Open- Sellwood 31/1/09

Well after finding out late on Friday night that there was an open at Witherington Farm on Saturday I made a couple of quick phone calls and managed to book in. I had only planned to pleasure fish so it was nice to find a match local to me. I set off at around 8am and was at the lakes by 10 past. The draw wasn't until 9 so I popped into the shop for half a pint of red maggot and came out with 40 quid's worth of bit's and bobs! I had a quick walk around Sellwood and there was a strong wind blowing into the car park bank. I fancied either peg 9,12 or 15. In to the bucket went my hand and peg 12 was stuck to my mitt. I was happy enough with this as despite being a corner peg it had the wind howling into it so I fancied it for a few fish down the edge. Now I've only fished Sellwood 3 times,all in the teams of 4, and every time I felt way off the pace. My biggest problem was chopping and changing too much,where a simple approach would have been better. With this in mind,I planned to fish the margins throughout. As you can see in the picture I had some grass/rushes at about 7m to my left,where I had around 3ft of water.















I then plumbed at 14.5m at 10 o'clock against the other bank and found a spot with the same depth. These would be my main two swims,with a back up right up into the corner where it was around 2ft6. My main rig was a 4x10 KC Chimp on 0.16-18 B911. This was matched to a doubled 8 latex with a fruitshoot pot on the pole. Shotting was a small bulk of 10's 18 inches from the hook with one no.10 dropper and a backshot due to the wind. The rig for the shallower swim was all the same except for a 4x10 chianti replacing the chimp. I also set up my 11ft6 carbonactive,with 8lb MatchWinner to 0.18 and an 18 PR36 for flicking in front of me if I was struggling. For bait I had 4mm and micro pellets,some red maggot,a few hook pellets and a small tin of corn. The all out was called and I went straight onto the 7m margin swim with double red maggot and fruit-shooted 4 maggots and a pinch of micro pellet in. After 5 minutes the float disappeared and I lifted into solid resistance. I coaxed the fish in and before it knew what was going on I panned an 8lb common-a nice start! I repeated the process and the same thing happened after around 10 minutes,although this fish was foul hooked and I pulled out! I decided to rest this swim and put a pinch of bait onto my two other lines. I went back onto the 7m line and after around 20 minutes of lifting and dropping another positive bite saw me catch another decent fish-again around 8lb. By this stage no-one had caught so I was pleased with how I was doing,and knew I just had to keep my head down and try to pick off odd fish. No more bites came in the next half hour on the 7m line so I cupped in a pinch of micro's and 4 maggots and moved onto the 14.5m line. A missed bite on double maggot prompted me to try corn and within 10 seconds of laying the rig in the float vanished and a lift was again met with solid resistance. 5 minutes later I slipped the net under another decent carp of around 7lb. No bite's came over the next hour,and the guy on peg 10 decided to pack up as he had no bites. He skylined my peg a bit as he left and I couldn't buy a bite off either swim for the next half an hour. I had a couple of casts on the bomb and corn to rest my swims but as expected I didn't even manage a liner. I had only seen odd fish come out around the lake so knew I was winning and just had to try and keep in front. I tried the shallow corner swim and missed a bite on corn- this was to be my only bite off this swim all day. I went back onto the 7m line with single corn and had an instant bite and soon netted a 4lb mirror. Another pinch of bait went into the swim after 10 biteless minutes and I moved back to 14.5m. No bite's were forthcoming so it was back to 7m on double maggot and another quick bite saw me land another small carp of around 3lb. With two hours left I had about 29lb in the net,and no-one else had more than one carp. A few silvers were coming out but not enough for me to worry about. However Colin Sellwood on Peg 9 then had two carp on the waggler over the next half hour and they were lumps. To go with the one he had I knew he had over 20lb so was one decent fish away from me. With 90 minutes to go I had another bite on double maggot at 7m but the fish snagged me and bust my rig! I thought this could prove costly,especially when despite trying all over my peg I couldn't buy a bite anywhere! My good mate Pete Bailey turned up with an hour to go and sat behind me. I still couldn't buy a bite from either swim so with 20 minutes to go I cupped 10 grains of corn and a pinch of pellet on the 14.5m line. I went over the top and as the corn touched the deck the float vanished and I soon had latex streaming from the pole. A few minutes later I slipped the net under my 6th carp of the day,a nice ghostie of about 4lb. I had one more sail-away bite at 14.5m with 10 seconds to go that I duly missed before the all-out was called. I started packing away and followed the scales round. Peg 1 and peg 2 both had 22lb odd,then there were a few single figure weights. Colin on Peg nine had 3 carp for 24lb,before my six fish went 34lb 4oz. This was enough for the win,with 24lb coming second,followed by a few weights around 20lb. I was delighted with the result,as I felt that what I had learned in previous matches helped. By keeping things simple and feeding negatively I was able to win the match with 10lb to spare. Back at the cafe I pocketed £60 for my troubles and after a quick cup of tea headed home. Tomorrow I'm at Whinwhistle for round 6 of the winter league,praying I don't draw The Rail!!

Whinwhistle practice session- 25/1/09

I awoke this morning to the sound of heavy rain,not exactly inspiring when a days fishing is on the cards! A quick check of the weather forecast showed that it was due to brighten up during the day,so a flask of coffee was quickly made and I set off for at around 8am. On arrival at the fishery the rain was hammering down,so I spent a good half an hour in the lodge sheltering from the rain and deciding where to fish. I don't get to 'pleasure fish' that often,and when I do I can never decide where to fish. I finally opted to fish the square on Whinwhistle lake as I wanted to try one or two things ahead of next week's winter league. I won my section on here in the last round fishing through the ice,and it was the only time I have drawn the lake in this series. After chatting to a carp angler fishing on the islands I finally settled on Square peg 23.

Around 4lb is usually a good weight on here in the winter league, as there are few big fish and it can be tough at the best of times. Despite this, I planned on mainly fishing pellet to target the small skimmers and hopefully one of the bonus bream or tench that can be so crucial in a tight winter league section. I feel it is far more effective to fish in this way than to try and keep pace with the squatt anglers. I decided to fish two lines at 6m and 13m, and set up 3 rigs to cover my options. My main rig was a 4x10 KC Speed on 0.12-0.10 silk shock and a 20 Gama Black to 6 latex. This was shotted with a spread bulk and was for scratching around. I also set up a 4x12 KC Chimp on 0.12-0.10 silk shock and a 20 Gama Pellet in case the skimmers showed up. This was matched to a 6 latex and shotted with a double bulk of no 10's. Both rigs were set to just touch bottom. My final rig was a 4x12 chimp on 0.12 silk shock to an 18 Gama Pellet and 8 latex. This was set to fish two inches over depth and had a slightly longer line in case the wind got up. All three rigs incorporated a no.10 back shot for stability. For bait I had some micro pellet, a bit of groundbait and some Ringers coolwater pellets in sizes 3mm,4.5m and 6mm,along with a few maggots and pinkies. I began by cupping a golf-ball of micro pellet at 13m,and 3 golf balls of groundbait at 6m. I planned on fishing maggot and pinkie at 6m to see if it was effective as the pellet. I began at 6m on single maggot and had a few tiny roach in the first 15 minutes. It was very slow so I put in a pinch of micro pellet and shipped out to 13m with a 3mm pellet. After about 10 minutes I had my first bite and netted a skimmer of around 4oz. A few more followed before it slowed so another thumbnail sized amount of pellet was cupped in and I went back in at 6m with a 3mm on the hook. Bites were instant and over the next hour I swapped between the two lines regularly taking small skimmers and roach,topping up with minimal amounts of pellet when it went quiet. After about two hours the float dipped at 13m and yards of latex streamed from the pole. There used to be alot of big carp in the square but most have been moved to the islands. However there are still one or two in there and I thought I'd hooked one. The fish was soon under control and as soon as it broke the surface I slipped the net under a pristine 3lb tench-a useful bonus! I caught steadily for the next two hours,alternating rigs and changing between 3mm and 4.5mm pellet on the hook. I would take 3 or 4 fish from each line before feeding a pinch of pellet and switching. It was really interesting fishing as I had to work for each bite and keep tweaking things to keep the fish coming. I finished the day at 3 oclock with around 9lb of small skimmers and the bonus tench in four hours. 12lb would almost certainly be a section winning weight on here next week,and I learned a few interesting things today that will stand me in good stead if I draw the square next week. Interestingly Richard Allin,the league leader, fished The Rail all day for around 5oz of eyes. The fishing is unbelievably hard on there at the moment with lots of blanks and few bites. I'm hoping and praying I don't draw there next week as it could be disastrous for the league campaign. I've almost certainly put the jinx on it now and will no doubt draw there on Sunday!

Back on the bank!

Due to girlfriend/family/work commitments and the arctic conditions over the Christmas and New Year period I haven't fished since the last round of the winter league at Whinwhistle on December 7th. To say I was itching to get back on the bank is a bit of an understatement. As I had two free days this weekend I decided I would head to Whinwhistle to practice for next weekends 6th round of the winter league. I'm currently in second place on 7 points,one point behind league leader Richard Allin,who I have also drawn in the semi-final of the knockout cup,so it was important to get a feel for the place again after 6 weeks away. I arrived at the fishery at around 8am and the first thing I noticed was the chocolate-like colour of the water. It was quite surreal as there was a hard ground frost,but we'd had a lot of rain during the week which had coloured the water. I headed straight to the cabin for a catch up with John the owner. It emerged that three of the four lakes had been fishing well all week,with plenty of silvers showing along with the odd carp. However the fourth lake, 'The Rail' hadn't had an angler on it for over 2 months,due to the fact that most people blanked in the last round of the winter league and it was won with mere ounces. The trouble with The Rail is that there are hardly any silvers in there,which means if the carp don't feed you're in trouble. Being the fool that I am I decided to give it a bash,and settled on Rail peg 3. (see pics below)

















I have always done well on The Rail by fishing tight across and feeding little or no bait,so was confident of a few fish. I set up to fish at 14.5m tight over to my left,13m tight across in front and 14.5m down the side of the point to my right. I had the same depth on all 3 lines,so set up a 4x12 chimp on 0.12-20 Gama Pellet shotted with a spread bulk and an 8 latex. I also set up a 4x10 chianti for half depth and a small drennan carp 4 set at 12 inches deep- both on 0,12 to 8 latex and 20 hooks. These two rigs were for searching all over the peg with bread punch,something that I have done well on at this time of year in the past. I also set up a bomb rod- 10ft Carbonactive,TDR reel,4lb line to .12 silk shock and a 20 drennan eyed barbless carp. I had some micro pellet,corn,maggot,4.5mm Ringers Coolwater hookers and two slices of bread for punching on the side tray. I began on the 12 inch rig with bread punch,slapping the rig and trying all along the far bank,but without a bite after 10 minutes I switched to the half depth rig and repeated the process. No bites materialised so I cupped around 30 micro pellets in front,10 maggots to the left and 3 grains of corn to the right. I flicked the bomb rig far over to my right and gave it 5 minutes. To cut a long story short over the next hour I couldn't buy a bite on any of the lines despite trying all of the usual tricks. As I hadn't fished for so long I decided that I wanted bites,so made the early decision to move over to Keepers Lake to fish for the Skimmers and roach,which is what I had planned to do from the start! It didn't take long to move and I was set-up in my new peg by 11. I used the same rig for the pellet line at 13m,and quickly knocked up a 6m roach rig consisting of a 4x10 KC Speed,0.12-0.10 silk shock and a 20 Black Gama. I cupped in a golf ball of micro pellet at 13m,and 3 small rock hard balls of groundbait at 6m as I planned on leaving this line for the first hour. I shipped out to 13m,lowered the rig down and the float kept on going but I missed the bite. A few more missed bites and it was evident that there were a few fish in front of me. I decided to change the spread bulk for a double bulk,with 4 no:10's a foot from the hook and another four 6 inches away from the hook. I shipped out and an instant positive bite saw a nice skimmer of around 6oz come to the net. Another 3 came in 3 put ins,as the bites were coming quickly. After a few more I had a couple of roach so put another nugget of micro's in and the skimmers were straight back. This set the pattern for the day,with 3 or 4 skimmers coming straight after a small amount of micro's went in before they would back off and I would repeat the process. It was clear they were responding to the feed but I was still cautious and fed just enough to keep the peg ticking over. I tried the 6m groundbait line and had a few roach but it was slower than the pellet line and the fish were smaller,so concentrated long. After a couple of hours I went to the cabin for a bacon sandwich and a chat with a few of the winter league lads who were in there. I went back to the peg after about an hour,put another golf ball of micro's long and caught instantly again. With half hour or so remaining I decided to try something different and put a full pot of micro's in (admittedly the smallest garbolino ext cupping kit pot) to see what would happen. Five roach in five casts convinced me this is something not worth trying next week,as although the skimmers wanted feed on the day it was a mistake to put too much in. It was actually quite simple to feed really,as soon as the roach showed I would put another small nugget of micro's in and fish it out-idiot proof! I packed up at 3 with around 12lb to show which isn't bad in freezing conditions when I only fished for 3 hours. Plenty of bites on a cold crisp day,what more could you want in winter?
I'm heading back down there tomorrow,come back and see how I get on!
Tight Lines